How to Do a Homeschool Evaluation by Semester

We all know that most states require a homeschool evaluation at the end of the year, but how about consider doing an informal evaluation at the end of each semester. Instead of just plowing through a curriculum for a whole year without considering if it's working or not, why not take a moment to evaluate a bit.

What to consider when doing a homeschool evaluation:

Check your progress

Are you about half way through what you wanted to cover this year?
After working through the curriculum for a few months, is it realistic to assume that you will be able to complete this program by the end of the year?
Does your child know more now than at the beginning of the year?
Is your child at least progressing and learning more and more each week?

Check your attitudes

Are your children starting their day with a good attitude or do they dread what they are required to do?
Is anyone having any fun?
What are some ways that you can make this year a little more enjoyable for everyone involved?
Is everyone pitching in with chores, cleaning up after themselves, or helping with whatever mom needs to have done?
Is mom being a task master or are her expectations in line with what her children can accomplish?

Curriculum Evaluation

How is your choice of curriculum working for you?
Do your children love/hate math?
Can you test them a bit on what they know and be able to tell if they are retaining any of what they learned?
Is there time to get everything done or do some expectations need to be trimmed down?

All Subjects Covered?

Look back at your plans for the beginning of the year. Are you covering the subjects you wanted to cover?
Have some subjects gotten lost in the shuffle?
Usually Fine Arts, Physical Education, and Foreign Language are the subjects that most often get skipped or left out if the family gets to busy with other studies.
Is it still important to cover the subjects that you intended for the beginning of the year or were your standards set too high?

Field Trips

Have you gotten to take any homeschool field trips this year?
Did you still have some places that you wanted to go?

For me, the fun of homeschooling is getting to take field trips to different places in the area. That is one huge advantage of homeschooling over public schooling. The more senses students use, the more they will retain what they learned. If they read books and do experiments at home, they can capitalize on those studies by adding a field trip to a historic place or science museum. Field trips don't have to be far away or expensive. Sometimes just walking around your neighborhood, watching a construction site, or visiting a local business can be just as impacting.

I hope these questions have helped give you a good start in your homeschool evaluation. If your children dread what they are doing each day and you are stressed to get through the curriculum, maybe this would be a good time to reevaluate what is really important and what is not. Just remember that your children may not remember everything they learned, but they will remember how you treated them!

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How to Do a Homeschool Evaluation by Semester

What to consider when doing a homeschool evaluation:

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